Thailand says rejected China request to deport all Uighur Muslims

BANGKOK, July 10 (Reuters) - Thailand said on Friday that it
had rejected a request from Beijing to deport all Uighur Muslims
held in detention camps back to China, two days after the
deportation of nearly 100 Uighurs sparked international
criticism.

Beijing's request was denied based on the grounds that the
Uighurs' nationalities had to be "verified" by Thai authorities
first, Colonel Weerachon Sukhondhapatipak, deputy Thai
government spokesman, told reporters.

"We did this according to international agreement and
international law and keeping in mind human rights," said
Weerachon.

"This decision was difficult to make. It is not like all of
a sudden China asks for Uighurs and we just give them back.
China asked for all Uighur Muslims in Thailand to be sent back
but we said we could not do it," he said.

More than 170 Uighurs were identified as Turkish citizens
and sent to Turkey from Thailand over the past month, said
Weerachon, while nearly 100 were sent back to China. Fifty
others still need to have their citizenship verified.

Thailand's decision to deport nearly 100 Uighurs from
several immigration detention centres in Bangkok late on
Wednesday was condemned by the United States and the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who strongly
urged China to ensure proper treatment of the Uighurs.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Uighurs have fled unrest in
China's western Xinjiang region where hundreds of people have
been killed, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. They
have travelled clandestinely through Southeast Asia to Turkey.

China's treatment of its Turkic language-speaking Uighur
minority is a sensitive issue in Turkey and has strained
bilateral ties ahead of a planned visit to Beijing this month by
President Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan plans to raise the plight of
the Uighurs during his trip.

TURKISH PROTESTS

The deportation of the Uighurs has sparked protests in
Turkey. Police used tear gas on Thursday to disperse about 100
protesters at the Chinese Embassy in the capital Ankara after
they knocked down a barricade and protesters attacked Thailand's
honorary consulate in Istanbul late on Wednesday, smashing
windows and breaking in.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has raised the
possibility of shutting the Thai embassy in Ankara, but on
Friday said he wanted to maintain good relations with both
Turkey and China.

"Thailand and Turkey are not rivals and we do not want to
destroy trade and commerce with Turkey," Prayuth told reporters
in Bangkok. "At the same time, we do not want to destroy the
relationship between China and Thailand."

Turkey has vowed to keep its doors open to Uighur migrants
fleeing persecution in China. Some Turks see themselves as
sharing a common cultural and religious heritage with their
Uighur "brothers" and Turkey is home to a large Uighur diaspora.

Human Rights Watch called on Thailand to halt the
deportation of Uighur Muslim migrants to China in a statement on
Friday, fearing they could face ill-treatment.

The New-York based rights group said the risks to Uighurs
forcibly returned to China were "grim and well established."

"Thailand should make it clear it won't further violate
international law by immediately announcing a moratorium on
additional deportations of Turkic people to China," said Sophie
Richardson, China director for Human Rights Watch.

On Friday, the Global Times, an influential tabloid
published by China's ruling Communist Party's official
newspaper, said China's Ministry of Public Security confirmed
that police "successfully repatriated" more than 100 people from
Thailand.

The newspaper said the people were mostly from China's
Xinjiang region, the heartland of the Muslim Uighur people who
call the region home, and were "illegal immigrants" or members
of gangs involved in people smuggling.

"Many among them planned to reach Turkey through Southeast
Asian countries and then head to Syria and Iraq to participate
in terrorist groups," the newspaper said.

The Ministry of Public Security did not respond to a request
for comment.

Beijing denies restricting the Uighurs' religious freedoms
and blames Islamist militants for a rise in violent attacks in
Xinjiang in the past three years in which hundreds have died.

China is home to about 20 million Muslims spread across its
vast territory, only a portion of whom are Uighurs.
(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee in BEIJING; Editing by
Michael Perry)